Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment comes to mind here for me - I'll try and find some links to add here. The study basically separates children into groups and has some exposed to adults treating the doll violently, some ignoring the doll and some treating it nicely. The children were then left alone with the doll. The study showed that those exposed to more aggressive role models acted more aggressively to the doll afterwards than those in other groups.
I'd argue that there are also other factors (natural levels of aggression, circumstances, hormone levels, etc) but children do learn by observation to an extent. In this way I'd argue that nurture plays a very important role too.
Great observation @Daniella Moriarty, Bandura's research was later used to influence people for the better. In countries like Mexico and Ethopia soap operas were developed in which an individual went through a dramatic change for the better.
In Mexico for instance, the uptake in literacy was huge after one of these shows.
You're absolutely right, learning by observation is a huge part of the problem. 😁
It's good to think of criminal behavior sometimes like a storm requiring all the climatic variables to be present. There is no sense in which either that variable or another be present for a storm to take place, rather that all the variables line up.
This is how one can see the interplay of genetics and environmental factors. Often it takes the two working in precisely the wrong way to produce criminal behavior.
The causes of criminal behavior are vast however and include medical disease, acquired physical trauma, a genetic component, environmental factors and sociopolitical reasons.
Sometimes, and this is the rather scary aspect of violent and criminal behavior, is that there is no other reason than because you're told to. Or obedience to authority.
For an interesting discussion of how normal individuals can become involved in devastating acts of cruelty, see the very interesting book - Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 11 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher Browning.
Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment comes to mind here for me - I'll try and find some links to add here. The study basically separates children into groups and has some exposed to adults treating the doll violently, some ignoring the doll and some treating it nicely. The children were then left alone with the doll. The study showed that those exposed to more aggressive role models acted more aggressively to the doll afterwards than those in other groups.
I'd argue that there are also other factors (natural levels of aggression, circumstances, hormone levels, etc) but children do learn by observation to an extent. In this way I'd argue that nurture plays a very important role too.
It's good to think of criminal behavior sometimes like a storm requiring all the climatic variables to be present. There is no sense in which either that variable or another be present for a storm to take place, rather that all the variables line up.
This is how one can see the interplay of genetics and environmental factors. Often it takes the two working in precisely the wrong way to produce criminal behavior.
The causes of criminal behavior are vast however and include medical disease, acquired physical trauma, a genetic component, environmental factors and sociopolitical reasons.
Sometimes, and this is the rather scary aspect of violent and criminal behavior, is that there is no other reason than because you're told to. Or obedience to authority.
For an interesting discussion of how normal individuals can become involved in devastating acts of cruelty, see the very interesting book - Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 11 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher Browning.